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Old Bridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located in the Raritan Valley region within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 65,375,[1][2][3] reflecting an increase of 4,919 (+8.1%) from the 60,456 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 3,981 (+7.0%) from the 56,475 counted in the 1990 Census. As of the 2010 Census, the township was the state's 18th largest municipality, after being the state's 21st most-populous municipality in 2000. Old Bridge is a bedroom suburb of New York City located across the Raritan Bay from Staten Island,[4][5] and it is about from Manhattan, and about south of Newark. What is now Old Bridge Township was originally incorporated as Madison Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 2, 1869, from portions of South Amboy Township (now City of South Amboy). In a referendum held on November 5, 1975, voters approved changing the township's name to Old Bridge Township by a margin of 7,150 votes to 4,888. The township's name was changed to avoid confusion with the borough of Madison in Morris County.[6] After the township was established, the area was made up primarily of farms and the population grew slowly. In 1880, the population was 1,662 and in 1950 it had reached 7,365. Over the next decade, a building boom started and farms gave way to developments, and the population grew to 22,772 by 1960. The 1980 census cited 51,406 people. The township saw major changes with the extension of Route 18 to the shore. The township was named as a contender for the title of one of the best places to live in the United States by Money magazine in both 2005 and 2007. In 2016, SafeWise named Old Bridge Township as the sixth-safest city in America to raise a child; the township was the second-highest ranked of the 12 communities in New Jersey included on the list. [edit] History
The first inhabitants of the area known as Old Bridge were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans. Those who settled in Old Bridge were known as the Unami, or "people down the river." They migrated to the shore along the Raritan each summer from their hunting grounds in the north.[7] When the English gained control from the Dutch in 1664, the state was divided into two provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey. In 1683, the general assembly of East Jersey defined the boundaries of Middlesex County and the three other original counties (Bergen, Essex and Monmouth) as containing all plantations on both sides of the Raritan River, as far as Cheesequake Harbor to the east, then southwest to the Provincial line, with the southwest line being the border of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties and the Township's southern border. Thomas Warne, one of the original 24 proprietors of East Jersey, was listed as a landowner of this area, and his son is said to have been the earliest European resident residing in the Cheesequake area in 1683. John and Susannah Brown were granted a land grant from the King of England in 1737. They called the area Brownville, and today this part of town is now known as Browntown.[7] In 1684, South Amboy Township was formed. At that time, it covered an area that now consists of the Townships of Monroe and Old Bridge, the Borough of Sayreville and the City of South Amboy. The Township covers that separated from South Amboy on March 2, 1869, and was originally called Madison Township. In 1975, the name was changed by referendum to the Township of Old Bridge. The purpose was to establish a single postal designation and ZIP code for the township and to differentiate the township from the Borough of Madison in Morris County. The community of Old Bridge in East Brunswick derives its name from the fact that the first bridge spanning the South River was built there, and as other bridges were built across the river the first one became known as "the Old Bridge." [edit] Research Tips
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